Mr. Rich (right) is a lifelong Orthodox Jew who observes the Sabbath and “believes that keeping kosher is fundamental to the Jewish faith and is necessary to conform to God’s will as expressed in the Torah,” his attorneys stated in an appellate brief. His lawyers argued that denying him pre-packaged kosher meals imposed a substantial burden on his religious exercise.

Mr. Rich in 1999 was found guilty of first-degree murder for shooting to death his parents in a ploy to inherit their money and pay off his debts.

Edith Windsor, left, who is challenging the Defense of Marriage Act, arrives with her attorney Roberta Kaplan, center, at the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The arguments over gay marriage before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington have certainly drawn their fair share of legal firepower.

Theodore Olson and David Boies, who were on opposite sides of the top court’s 2000 Bush v. Gore ruling over the Florida recount, united on Tuesday to argue that California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage was unconstitutional. Mr. Olson faced off against Charles J. Cooper, a fellow conservative.

On Wednesday, Roberta A. Kaplan, a partner at New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, took center stage in a separate challenge, arguing against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman… Read More »

A day after Arkansas lawmakers voted to enact the most-stringent abortion restrictions in the nation, the state’s attorney general said he is preparing to defend the law against inevitable challenges – despite his personal feelings on the matter.

Some abortion rights supporters indicated that they would sue Arkansas in federal court to try and overturn the law, which bars most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, a Democrat, on Thursday said he would defend the state against such challenges despite his concerns about the ban’s constitutionality. The attorney general last month told Arkansas legislative leaders that he had concerns about the bill without going into detail. . . . .

Without striking down the drug-testing requirement, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that Florida had not shown a “special need” that justified suspending Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

The ruling casts doubt on a handful of similar laws passed by Republican-controlled legislatures since 2011.

Only Florida and Georgia have laws that allow drug testing of all welfare applicants. Arizona, Missouri, Utah and Oklahoma have laws that permit drug testing when there is suspicion of drug use by applicants, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“[T]he talks are progressing sufficiently such that the parties believe that further talks may be fruitful,” the filing said.

The filing requests that U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C., postpone arguments in the case currently scheduled for Feb. 7 to allow more time for the parties. . . . . Read More »

A federal appeals court ruled that President Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to fill vacancies on a labor-relations panel. The unanimous decision is a setback for the president, who made the appointments after Senate Republicans spent months blocking his choices for an agency they contended was biased in favor of unions.

The Obama administration is expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but if it stands, it means hundreds of decisions issued by the board over more than a year are invalid. Here’s past Law Blog coverage on the matter. Read More »

On Jan. 15, freshman Rep. Rodney Davis (R., Ill.) made it to the House chamber just in time to participate in a ceremonial recitation of the Constitution.

“I was one of the last guys to walk onto the floor,” Mr. Davis says. He was handed a piece of paper, and “it happened to be the 27th Amendment”—the Constitution’s final words. (Scroll to the 1:08:34 mark to watch Rep. Davis’s reading.)

40 years after Roe v. Wade, the battles over abortion continue to rage. But these days, the battles resemble trench warfare, with abortion opponents pushing hard for even the smallest gains, and pro-choice advocates pushing back at every turn. The WSJ’s Ashby Jones discusses the latest. Read More »

About Law Blog

The Law Blog covers the legal arena’s hot cases, emerging trends and big personalities. It’s brought to you by lead writer Jacob Gershman with contributions from across The Wall Street Journal’s staff. Jacob comes here after more than half a decade covering the bare-knuckle politics of New York State. His inside-the-room reporting left him steeped in legal and regulatory issues that continue to grab headlines.

A federal judge in Manhattan rejected a bid by the conservative advocacy group Citizens United to stop New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman from requiring that charities disclose to him their major donors.

Concerns about a gender gap in the legal profession tend to focus on issues like pay, billing rates and who makes partner. A new study by the American Bar Association looks inside the federal courtroom to see who's trying cases.